


The First Time

by Kannika



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, F/M, pre-season two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24376867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kannika/pseuds/Kannika
Summary: The first time M’gann snaps someone’s mind, she and Conner are connected.He feels it.
Relationships: Kon-El | Conner Kent/M'gann M'orzz
Kudos: 13





	The First Time

**Author's Note:**

> I love this pairing so much, but sometimes I think about the reasons they broke up and it makes me SAD.

M’gann and Conner’s minds are connected when it happens the first time.

They’re connected all the time— combat is no different, except it makes the connection that much more intense. Conner feels his battle high and hers, his pain and hers, but he also gets flashes of when she needs his help and vice versa. He moves, half the time, without being aware that he’s moving. It’s like having an out-of-body experience. He sees things through her eyes. He feels everyone through the mind link, of course, but through M’gann, he feels everything. 

And when they’re badly outnumbered and everyone else on the mind link is unconscious and his comm is useless in his ear, he and M’gann the only ones left standing, it feels that much more acute and intense. He’s trying desperately to cover for M’gann and she’s trying to do the same for him, but… it’s not going well. They both know it. He’ll keep going as long as he can stand, but he feels weak. He’s losing blood from too many shallow wounds, and something in the air makes his head spin, and M’gann’s exhaustion is tugging him down, down, down…

M’gann falls first, from a hit that sends her flying into the wall hard enough the metal caves in; through the link, her breath stops, her ribs digging into her skin. She crumples to the ground. 

Conner stands there, careening from the shock and residual pain, and that one second of stillness is too much. 

Pain— fresh, immediate, _his_ this time— slices through his abdomen, and he falls to the ground. He smells blood, his blood, and lots of it. 

The man who did it stands over him, victory in his eyes. He’s holding a knife, and Conner knows, in an instinct as old as breathing, that it’s sharp enough to kill him. It’s _going_ to kill him, because he can’t move. Hell, he’s so numb with pain he can barely breathe, can’t think. Or maybe that’s fear, like he’s never known before. What is death going to be like? Is it going to be dark and instant, or light and surreal and soft? Will the others… The others…

Through the link, though, one thought crystallizes: _no._

The desperation in M’gann’s mind is like falling into dark, deep water, filling his lungs in place of air, digging into his muscles, and her presence expands, not comforting and familiar, but sharp, like claws, tearing, seeking, angry—

And the person above him spasms and drops the knife harmlessly in front of him.

He’s there, in their mind link, for a split second, and Conner feels the energy go blank.

And turn to fire. 

Maybe he screams. Maybe he sobs. All Conner knows is that his vision goes black and it’s like _his_ mind is being ripped apart, too, for a split second, and when he comes back he comes back in pieces. His vision is blurry. His pain is dulled like he’s drugged. He can barely move. 

His tongue tastes like ash. Like… like things crumbling. Things dying. He doesn’t have the strength to move but he thinks if he could he would retch. 

_M’gann did that,_ he realizes, in the tiny part of his mind that can function through the pain, but it doesn’t register. It can’t be. M’gann… she doesn’t do that. She treats the mind link as precious, as a gift that connects them on a deeper level. When they’re linked, they basically share the same mind, everything is so vivid and real. She wouldn’t _abuse it_ like that. 

But he’s never felt this desperation before, even through the mind link. It was something new, and it left something broken in its wake, and he knows it but he can’t put the pieces together in a way that makes sense.

M’gann manages to drag herself over and collapse right next to him. She’s shaking, he dimly registers, and the first thing that comes back through their mostly-severed link is fear. She’s hyperventilating, sobbing, and clings to his hand like it’s the only thing that will anchor her.

He should say something, he should comfort her like she needs, but all he can think of is the emptiness. The vast, echoing mindscape that M’gann left behind when she ripped out all the life. He wonders what the man looks like. If he’s… even alive. He doesn’t feel alive.

M’gann is still sobbing, seeking his eyes the best she can. She’s so, so afraid of herself, and it breaks his heart. 

“I had to save you,” she whispers.

He barely manages to squeeze her hand. Maybe he doesn’t. He feels like he’s drifting, floating, only here because M’gann is and an irretrievable piece of him is always with her. He’s so exhausted. So full of ugly, ashy, brokenness.

He feels the emptiness every time he closes his eyes.


End file.
